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Cuc Phuong national park
 Cuc
Phuong, the first
National Park
of
Vietnam
which was established in 1962, is 140 km South of
Hanoi, 55km from
Ninh
Binh, roughly 25,000 hectares. The botanical
richness of the forest is impressive as it supports a wide variety
of flora species and patches of primeval forest, including ancient
trees with thick clusters of roots, and parasitic plants and
ligneous creepers.
Some
tree species have been introduced from
Burma,
India
, and
Borneo. Clusters of orchards grow near cave entrances, where the moisture
conditions and light are ideal. Varieties include thousand-year dracontomelum and parashorea trees which can be visited in a one
or two hour hiking, and coral, vanilla, snow-white, and butterfly
orchids everywhere. Large mammals inhabit the park including
panthers and bears, but rarely appear, so the most popular animals
you can see are monkeys, gibbons, flying squirrels and pheasants.
There are also over 120 species of birds and many varieties of
beetles living here, and April and May arrive swarms of butterflies.
At night, million of cicadas create a deafening din, and million of
fireflies flicker about.
Lying
in a limestone area,
Cuc Phuong includes numerous caves. At "Nguoi
Xua" (Cave
of
Early Man), two ancient tombs have been discovered, along with Neolithic
remains and evidence of stone implements; there have been similar
finds at Trang Khuyet (Crescent Moon), Thanh Minh, and
Con
Mong
Caves.
Hang
Dan
Cave
is known for its bat population. Hiking in Cuc Phuong is following
some kilometers of  trails
and passing through old-growth forest with long vines wrapped around
strangled trees, visiting the caves, waterfalls and streams in the
forest or stopping over at a Muong ethnic village.
Since the location in between three provinces, it's easy to combine
a trip to Cuc Phuong with a trip to
Hoa Binh or Ninh Binh province,
or you can depart from
Hanoi, spend the whole day exploring the forest and overnight at the
Park's guest house.
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